The Eagles tried to change the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day tradition

It’s an annual tradition unlike any other. Just as the NFL owners meeting approaches, new rule proposals emerge, and at least one person or team urges the NFL to change or strip the Detroit Lions’ Thanksgiving Day tradition.

This year’s culprit is the Philadelphia Eagles, who reportedly proposed a rule change that wouldn’t take the Thanksgiving Day game from the Lions, but would force them to take it on the road every once in a while. Here’s how the proposal read, according to Pro Football Talk:

to continue the annual tradition of having Dallas and Detroit play on Thanksgiving, provided that one of those clubs host a home game with the other club playing away, and alternating home and away games each subsequent season.

It’s unclear what the motivation here is for the Eagles. Perhaps they simply want to expand the tradition to other teams, but the league added a third Thanksgiving Day game in 2006 to allow more teams to get in on the game. Maybe they simply wanted a chance to host more Thanksgiving Day games, since their in-division rival, the Dallas Cowboys, gets their own game every year.

Regardless of motive, their proposal is already dead. The Eagles withdrew their proposal and the Lions’ tradition is safe for another year.